Posts Tagged ‘Buying Guide’

Recently Hobbyking have launched a $29.90 (exclusive of shipping) FPV Goggle or formally known as the ‘ Quanum DIY FPV Goggle Set with Monitor (KIT)‘. It is the cheapest FPV goggle so far on the market. But by cheap, does it comes good as well?

When this product first came out, thousands of RC enthusiasts wanted a piece of it. And within a day or two after it was launched, the product was out of stock.

I was one of the few (lucky?) ones to get the first batch and had my dirty hands all over it . So, considering the light-weight price of $29.90, is this Goggle worth it? Well.. come on in to read my review and be a smart consumer!

Looks like the hype is all around Maxis with their new offering of #Hotlink free internet for new (and existing – if you upgrade) prepaid users.

Before you go “YAY!” or “At last!” – first you got to know that this is a free BASIC internet, so the speed is capped at 64kbps maximum. What is 64kbps or how fast is 64kbps you may ask? Simple – take example this page which you browse right now @ neato4u.wordpress.com, this page has an estimation of 1.8MB total data to fully download and render it properly (on a full fledged desktop format) which will load 1 second on a 10Mbps broadband connection or roughly 3 seconds on a 5Mbps broadband (not bad right?) – however this same page will load in 3 minutes 44 seconds on a 64kbps speed offered by #Hotlink (okay you can ‘YAY’ now) 😀

But what’s there to complain when it’s FREE? I don’t know about you guys but for me I personally think it’s rude to complain when people give you free stuffs. But then again, is this really free?

Well, it’s free for those who purchased the new Maxis #Hotlink starter pack that cost RM8.80. The starter pack comes preloaded with a RM5 airtime and is set for free internet capped at 64kbps maximum speed. But of course, the new pack have new tariffs as well that have its own high and (mostly) low perks..

For existing Hotlink prepaid users, yes – you too can enjoy free internet IF you upgrade to the new #Hotlink free internet package. To upgrade, dial *108*25# from your existing prepaid line (although I do not have any subscription with Maxis nor Hotlink anymore) – I am unable to try and confirm this from my end. I do heard that some users are facing error saying “Maaf, pelan yang anda pilih tidak sah, Terima kasih” (Sorry the plan which you choose is invalid) in which case I would highly suggest that you dial *100# and check or choose the option to upgrade manually.

– Before you upgrade, WAIT! –

Have a good read before you upgrade (I know free things are really tempting, especially if you are a Malaysian :P) – By upgrading you will lose your Activ10, Hotlink 5, Hotlink 10, Validity 90 and Validity 365 subscription and benefits (if you have any). If you plan to upgrade to #Hotlink free internet and THEN purchase Validity 365 OR Activ10, well… you just can’t because based on their FAQ, these services are not supported because.. I quote “the proposition of #Hotlink is FREE Basic Internet“ (kiss your 365 and other money savings bye bye!) Also, by upgrading – you are now bound by the new package plan and tariffs which is 12sen / 30 seconds (per 30 seconds charging block) for both voice and video calls, and 7sen / SMS applicable to all local networks. Not to mention a minimum of RM30 / month to keep your account active.

So that is a point to ponder and see if you are on the winning side or the losing side. If you are an existing subscriber of Activ10 and use it very frequently, you’re gonna lose quite a lot, especially when Activ10 offers 15sen / minute and 1sen / SMS (same telco). Or if you are an existing 365 subscriber with very less usage, you are going to lose more as you NEED to regularly top up now with the new #Hotlink free internet plan. That’s RM30 to keep your line active for a month, nothing lesser than that.

For your reference > The normal Hotlink prepaid plan comes with 20sen / minute and 5 sen / SMS to same telco or 30sen / minute and 10sen / SMS to other telcos (if you reload more than RM10).

However, if you did not opt for those subscriptions before, it is a good deal to upgrade your package to the #Hotlink free internet plan. If you need the internet for free and ready to upgrade your call and SMS tariffs and lose those said privileges for good of course…

– OK I am all set for free UNLIMITED internet, WAIT, **** it’s NOT UNLIMITED??? –

Who ever told you that it’s unlimited? Ha ha ha… yes even though you are capped on a ridiculous 64kbps, you are ALSO capped by their UNfair usage policy (FUP) of 3GB per month. Exceeding this will cause your free internet to transform into a NOT-SO-FREE anymore internet. Their FAQ page advice that your free internet will be disconnected – however I doubt this and believe once your phone reconnect it will suck your credits dry. But heck, I can’t believe how one could possibly utilize 3GB on a puny 64kbps connection – having a hard time understanding this? Try loading up a website with a 64kbps and see how long it takes to load, just try http://www.google.com and you will understand 🙂 or better (or if you have faster internet speed.. hehe), check out Lowyat review on this by clicking > HERE <

– Do I really need free internet? –

If you are paying less then RM30 / month for your current prepaid subscription or does not use the internet or feel that it is important to you – from my point of view, it is better for you to stick with your current plan and packages because I feel it is a better deal compared to the #Hotlink free internet. It is freewith all the benefits and money saving options ripped off. If you really need to use the internet (and keep using Hotlink), just grab their daily RM1 internet access capped at 100mb or get the RM20 / month for 350mb worth of data – both without any cap in speed (until you reached the limit of course). For more information on Hotlink prepaid mobile internet plans and which suites you best, head over to their website by clicking > HERE <

– I am a new #Hotlink free internet user, does this means that all this free mumbo jumbo is worthless?? –

Well, if you just started and just purchased the starter package – no it’s not worthless (but maybe not the best value for your money). The free internet with 64kbps speed is good enough for WhatsApp and emails (and maybe good on other messaging platforms as well such as Line, WeChat, etc). If you are coming in fresh, you wouldn’t feel that much of a loss than existing users with benefits. For web browsing, try downloading Opera Mini (only 0.90mb in Google Play – assuming you are running on the most used mobile platform which is the Android) and see if it helps (I tried on slow mobile network, it doesn’t help much unfortunately – but hey, you may have different result). And yes, if you have a lot of friends on Whatsapp and have group chats or the sort, then you may probably enjoy the free internet provided. If you think I left out facebook – then yes, maybe I did.. because it was reported that facebook runs super slow with #Hotlink free internet, it is almost useless unless you are productive enough to hit retry retry and retry every now and then.

– ISP and Telcos, Hear my voice (err.. or read my texts)–

Consumers are getting brighter these days and are more computer / IT literate then it was several years ago (You need to remember it’s no more focused on Generation X that are very forgiving and respectful!) . Spooning them with a 64kbps FREE internet will just ruin their mobile internet experience (especially for users who did not use or experience mobile internet before). Offering a platform for free is a good step, but offering a platform such as these (in my own personal view) will just make it a platform for new internet users to curse and tell others how BAD #Hotlink is. Just imagine an excited never before use a mobile internet, purchased a #Hotlink starter pack that says “FREE INTERNET” – firing it up for the first time and trying to load http://www.google.com using their default browser, then typing in something to perform a web search – waited for a minute while anxiously staring at their browser white background for the result to come out only to see that… it timed out.

I had similar experience before when Celcom came out with their data only prepaid plan. It was cheap (I can’t remember how much I purchased those but I believe around RM25 or so – it was considered very cheap back in those days) but it ended up in me throwing their SIM card out of the window several hours after purchase because the speed was so ridiculously slow that I can not even load Celcom help page to check what’s going on (reception was good btw). I believe there will be similar users like me who’s going to throw their new #Hotlink out of the window too when they have a taste of the speedy 64kbps connection. Even worst, that feeling will leave a mark in their heart – yes not only mark of frustration, but with #Hotlink embedded all over it. It’s a scar for life.

I hope some good telco come up and offer their capped speed just good enough for good simple browsing and image loading. 64kbps is a joke and all around worthless. Unless we live in the early 90s where most websites are greatly texts and images are very optimized for page loading (whoops, don’t go venture into that personal Geocities page if you can’t wait!) and the people can afford to WAIT for pages to load (most people can’t even wait for a site to load if it’s more than 10 secs). I would say a 128kbps or a download speed of 15-20kb/s is the bare minimum that every ISP and telcos should go about when throttle is in place. But of course this will lead to reply that the fact they did not terminate and still offer ‘some’ service should be taken into consideration. Yeah, a consideration of almost non existent of the internet for sure.

– The conclusion –

My view of the #Hotlink free internet is a rip off of all the other benefits which Hotlink offers to it’s existing prepaid users. By adding the word ‘free‘ it catches a lot of attention. And by giving it away for ‘free’ – I am a bit heavy hearted to complain, so I will just say “this isn’t the best value for money“. If you really need internet, just purchase it – It’s not that expensive anymore, especially if you are only using it for simple browsing and messaging – Other telcos such as Digi offers RM18/month for a 300mb data and 30days validity (with unlimited surfing via Opera Mini), Umobile offers RM18/month for 250mb data with free 25mins free calls and 25SMS to all networks. Even Hotlink provide these but are expensive at RM20/month with 350mb and nothing else (no freebies no extra minutes calls no nothing). Which is why I have personally ported out from Hotlink a few years back because I find that their prices are not competitive when others can offer and beat their services. Sometimes it is better paying for something that works then getting free stuffs that doesn’t… or is it most of the times? LOL…

Do you know that you can keep your mobile number and port to other telcos as well? Read my porting experience > HERE < It offers a lot of consumer choosing powers for sure.

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I may be a little bit backdated but I feel there is not so much ‘wow‘ factor with the new Nexus 7 2 (2013). And seeing that the new Nexus 7 2 is out, the older version of Nexus 7 will face a drop down in price. So if you have not owned a (decent) tablet yet – this may be the right time for you to get the ‘not so old‘ Nexus 7.

I’d say “Alternative to china tablets is the Nexus 7” – With it’s attractive price tag and still carrying a respectable specs, why buy a crappy china tablet instead of the Nexus 7? Of course it’s missing something physical like the back camera, hdmi out, and a memory card expansion slot. But I tell ya it’s a gentleman for being honest from the start – instead of the china tablets that have almost everything physical wise, they have taken the specs away (although it appears all amazing and powerful in paper – don’t be fooled!) and won’t be performing as good as the Nexus 7 when it comes to the challenge.

So if you are thinking “what is the best budget tablet” that you should buy? I will highly recommend the Nexus 7 – be it the WIFI version 16 / 32GB, or the cellular / 3G version 16 / 32GB version. It is not just a budget tablet, it is an ‘Excellent tablet’ which have won 2012 “Gadget Of The Year” and “Tablet Of The Year” beating the Ipad, Sony Tablet S, even Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9. How is that for an excellent budget tablet?

Still not convinced why you should get the Nexus 7? Maybe I’ll help you to know each others first. Hop on in for the full review.

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This article was re-edited on 28/5/2014 and again on 17/8/2015 as some info were incorrect, links were missing, and added new product recommendations that I consider is better and cheaper.

Dream of being a pilot but too old to make it? Or are you afraid of heights? Perhaps that excruciating ear pain on your last plane ride turned your dream down?

Still wanna be a pilot? Well, Alhamdulillahthank God that you lived in today’s world (time travellers, the year is 2013 by the way) and thank to the available technology we have right now, you can make your dreams to be a (well, virtual) pilot come true just by controlling a Radio Controlled (RC) aircraft with your video goggles on.

But excuse me, is this the guide of FPV for Dummies?

No, sorry.. I’m just here to show off my videos and make you guys jealous. HA HA HA.. well of course IT IS! You arrived at Neato4u’s Blog which motto is “The best is to share, not to keep!“. Not only I will show you what is needed to get you start FPV the easy way – I will also try to make everything sounds as easy as possible (it is really easy ‘to get started’, believe me).

So what are you waiting for, get in and have a read! Don’t worry you can thank me later 😉

If you already have a powerful desktop, there is no need to buy another. Especially if you plan to buy a dedicated HTPC which support the latest games with high end graphics – these things are small, but are very much expensive and will require quite an amount of time to setup.

So how about a $0 cost to get yourself a HTPC? I am talking about the hardware that you requires. Reusing your home / gaming desktop computer hardware will cost you nothing! And in turn, the more powerful hardware you have, the more powerful your HTPC going to be! Now I am going to be honest and more specific here when I say $0 cost for hardware – this is just the HTPC itself – not including the monitor / TV, the speakers, the keyboard. mouse, and other peripherals. Got it? Ok, now that it is clear (so you don’t feel cheated) – I am going to tell you the key item which will save you big bucks in getting all this done (plus realizing the $0 hardware cost) – let me present you the SoftXpand Duo 2011.

– What is SoftXpand Duo 2011? –

As quoted from their website “SoftXpand 2011 Dou is a software product that enables two (2) users to work on a single (1) computer simultaneously.“

I guess that’s the best and simplest answer to it. However, here is my long winded detailed answer below :

I see SoftXpand Duo 2011 as a powerful visualization software (for those familiar with virtual machines it is like VirtualPC, VMWare, etc). But what sets it apart is that it really turn your PC into 2. All you have to do is plug in another monitor, plug in another keyboard and mouse – and there you have it, another PC that you can use. The best part is that (based on my personal experience) there are no slow downs in performance at all when both PC is at use – and what REALLY sets it aside from the rest is that I can play games in full resolution running simultaneously on both PC without any noticeable loss in performance!Now that’s the real deal.

Here in this post, I will not only review the product, but will also guide you how to setup (don’t worry it’s easy!), show some real life applications using SoftXpand Duo 2011, and how we can use it for our cheap HTPC project 🙂

SoftXpand Duo will turn 1 PC into 2 – so it does not necessarily be a HTPC setup. You just need an extra set of peripherals (monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers) to make this possible. But because I will be using my 40″ LED TV – that is why my setup is tailored more to HTPC.

So come on in and read on (there is also a Youtube review!). The best is to share, not to keep!

So an RC Group member emailed Ecilop team to ask about this. And they responded with:

“We have a condition that if any company uses any technology based on our frame we want them to show Aleksey Zaitsevsky as an inventor. And Ecilop as well as a base model.“

Seeing that Foxtech did mention about Ecilop on Glyder 600 product page – so this is true then. Sadly for the RC Group user who read the email does not understand the content entirely and (in an indirect way) said Foxtech was lying when they did not.

Dropping that subject, here comes the real deal… I was one of (or I believe I am) the first to preorder Glyder 600 Plug and Play (PNP) version – and also made a custom upgrade from the standard Naza Flight Controller (FC) to Zero UAV YS-X6 instead. If you are interested to get the PNP version and in dire need to know more about it – come on in for the full review.

Happy new year everyone (especially to my dearest subscribers, although not many 🙂 ). I just hope that I have more informative content to write about this year and hopefully a broader range of topics. I hate being so specifics, sometimes I get bored a bit too soon.

Well, my phone would also like to wish me a Happy New Year – kamikaze style by displaying static screen – like a TV without antenna.

At first I thought it was a software issue – Since I have flashed a custom ROM but not void warranty (didn’t matter anymore – the official Sony warranty ended last December, WARGH!) as I did not unlock the bootloader – so I factory reset and flashed back to stock ROM. On first boot and a couple of minutes after – everything was normal – until I turn the screen off and turn it back again – just to be surprised by the horror static screen – still being there!

So I spent a couple of hours – software side – to fix the issue, but to no success. In the end I goggled and found out that this is quite a common issue with Xperia Play. Due to it’s moving parts (gamepad slider) – this is the common ribbon issue with most slider type phones.

I have not checked how much it would cost for repairs (and how long will it take) – but I will update it here once I know.

As for the rest of Xperia Play owners out there – if your device is still good, I suggest that you sell it off before the same thing happens to your unit. Although it is a good gaming phone, the hardware on the Xperia Play is simply outdated. It’s even outdated during its first launch. And now with quad cores leading the market, with faster GPU and bigger RAM – the Xperia Play with 1Ghz single core, less than a GB RAM plus it’s ridiculously small internal storage is just … just ..

I don’t even have a word for it. Just avoid it unless you really want the built in gamepad.

The common used price for Xperia Play should range around RM400. Brand new ones are around RM600+. Just an idea if you plan to sell one… or buying one. There should be some selling @ Lowyat.net. Just head over to the Garage Sales -> Mobile Phones and Related Accessories section and hopefully you are in luck!

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A few days ago we finally shifted to our new apartment. I have to admit that it was exciting – with new environment and new neighborhood (which friendly neighbors all around). It’s great to know that we have good communities, just like the old ‘kampung‘ days – and I appreciate that this kind of community still exists and glad that I am also part of it – not like some ‘rotten’ modern living where you don’t even see or know who your neighbors are.

So, new place should come with a little bit of new stuffs. And I am delighted to review the Sony Bravia 40″ EX43 LED which we bought recently at Jusco / Aeon during their Aeon Members day for RM1599.

Normal retail price for this unit (at this moment of time) is RM1899 / RM1999. But I am sure the price will drop within a few more months if you have missed the offer.

First of all is theanti glare screen surface – If you are buying any TV, make sure you have this feature on. Most display units are placed in a very well brightly lit area – with the addition of a bright, slow moving images or videos as their promotional jiggle. These are situations that are not that very common when you bring the unit home – as it was tailored for marketing purposes which purpose is to show off / making it look good / at it’s best behavior.

When you bring the unit home – in a dim light environment, glare can be your number one enemy. Especially when you just bought that expensive floor lamp which your wife has just placed it next to your sofa, facing the TV. Soon you will go nuts when you realize that your TV has just turned into an all expensive mirror!

If you have bought a TV unit which glare (like most Plasma type do) – well, there are still hope – like buying an anti glare screen protector (eg. Sarowin AntiGlare) – but of course, why spend extra money when you can have it all in the first place?

It’s light! The full unit with box weights just around 8kg – I can carry the unit with ease all by myself – walking (probably) half a km to my car, with no sweat.

Then it is the excellent picture quality. When I first assembled and setup the unit – I went through some sample media. And the first thing I opened is the sample images / pictures that was pre-stored in the unit. And my first and only word at that time was ‘Wow‘. That is how good it is which left me speechless.

With 2x HDMI input, connecting my PC (converted to a HTPC) is a painless effort. I did bought a good gold HDMI cable to ensure no jerkiness or pixellated issues. Watching HD content was a pleasure – although some black parts did show some pixel trace – but it could be that I have not setup my PC media player codec or encoder properly.

The unit also supports USB drives and external HDD via it’s USB input. I tested this with my 500GB external HDD and have no issues playing back almost all of my medias with the exception of my own encoded WMV videos which does playback but without audio. Overall I am satisfied with the media capability of this unit. Here are a snapshot of supported formats from the manual :

Update 20/12/2012 : After using the unit for quite some days, I am now convinced that it is a good buy (minus the not like below – which I can tolerate still). The ‘black’ on this unit shows real BLACK, and I truly appreciates that. When viewed side by side with my 20″ Acer LED monitor – the Acer displays a greyish black, while the Sony displays true black like those seen on Plasma.

What I personally do NOT like

Is the terrible sound quality that this unit produces! At some times I was near to it’s maximum volume to really understand what I was listening – by then it’s just too loud when background music and other sound effects are added. Yes there are the sound settings for ‘speech’ but that just made everything else worst. The speakers are directed behind the unit, which made it echoed and lost it’s way to where it supposed to go – to our ears! Setting volume normalization on my PC media player settings helped a bit (there are also normalization and EQ settings built in the unit, FYI), but still I must say that the speakers on this unit is ‘severely below average‘ and that you extremely NEED to get a decent external set of speakers to accommodate your viewing experience.

Would I buy this unit again?

I probably will – if it were to be bundled with a decent set of external speakers at a reasonable price.

Would I recommend this unit to others?

If you are looking for a unit with good picture quality and plan to watch more HD content than SD, and do not mind much about audio quality nor it’s under performing set of built in speakers, and in a budget – then definitely YES.

How about getting an Original Game ‘Saints Row The Third‘ for USD5.70? That’s RM17.33 after conversion from USD to RM. Sounds like the price of pirated games that they sell locally here.

But wait…

How about getting 7 original PC games for USD5.70? Too good to be true? Well if you are a gamer (or just an opportunist, because if you’re a true gamer you’ve would have known about this deal by now.. hehe) or probably subscribers of this blog – if you read this soon enough, you may get yourself 1.. no, my mistake.. 7 of these amazing games at a crazy unbeatable price of (currently) USD5.70.

Too expensive still? (I have no idea how cheapskate you are then.. lol) Then how about 6 games at the price of USD1? – here’s how.

First, head on to www.humblebundle.com (Don’t worry you can click on this link, it will open a new tab on your browser) and you will be presented with 7 PC Games that are yours to grab by “naming your price”. This includes Darksiders, Metro 2033, Red Faction Armageddon, Company Of Heroes, Company Of Heroes Opposing Fronts, Company Of Heroes Tales Of Valor – and why not (if you pay above the average price) get yourself Saints Row The Third as well?

– So is it really USD5.70? –

The answer is no. One of my friend bought his bundle for USD5.73 – that’s because the average price was higher back then it is now. If you want to purchase all of them (with the minimum or I’d say the best price you can get) – check out the average pricing under the Saints Row The Third cover.

At this moment of writing it’s USD5.69 – so if you beat the price by adding another 1 cent (shame? why not? lol) so with USD5.70 you will get those 6 bundled games with Saints Row The Third for free!

Take note that at time of writing, offer ends in another 11 days.

– Enough already, I want this now before the offer ends! –

To purchase, here is what you need to do – first, visit their website and check the average price (and increase it by whatever amount that you like – it’s going for charity too – if you wish to get Saints Row. Or if Saints Row is not that important to you – you may buy the bundle for as low as USD1)

Then scroll down and choose the predefined or click custom to enter exact amount that you are willing to pay in Section 1.

Section 2 is optional – you may leave it as it is if you don’t quite understand.Section 3 is where you enter your email – Once purchased, HumbleBundle will send you an email that contain a link to download soundtracks and generate your gamekey (to download the actual games)

And lastly if you choose to give this as a gift to someone – tick the checkbox in Section 4.

As I bought this for myself – I left that unchecked.

At the most bottom of the page, select your preferred payment method. As I have PayPal – I click on PayPal. However if you do not have a PayPal account – you can still purchase these using your Credit Card (or some debit card that supports these kind of transactions – I know some new Maybank Debit Card have these features)

So if you are paying with card – choose the option ‘Don’t have a PayPal account?‘ and just fill in your card details.

Take note that additional conversion charges may apply (not that much, don’t worry – still cheap!)

Once payment is made, you will receive an immediate link to the download soundtracks and page to generate your key (to download the actual games). Bare in mind that the games are downloaded via your Steam account. (If you do not own a Steam account yet – why notcreate one!)

So that’s it!– It took me a few minutes to purchase, a few days to download all the games (perhaps), and maybe a few months (or years? gasp!) to finish all 7 of these (I’m not a hardcore gamer, I just bought these to show support for the originals and prevent cyber crimes and contributing to some good charities of course! You should too!)

What are you waiting for? The clock is ticking…

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I had an opportunity to try out Moonlight VPN the other day with Umobile. Setting it up was easy and only took me less than 5 minutes including the download of Moonlight VPN GUI and the step by step video instruction which was pretty much clear and straight forward.

For those who does not know what Moonlight VPN is – here is an example and simple explanation of it.

What Moonlight VPN does is that it tunnels your data (download and uploads) to it’s own server, bypassing your ISP’s data limit – thus you will get a true UNLIMITED bandwidth with the cheapest data package that your ISP provides. Imagine downloading 5GB per day on a 500MB/month data package. Moonlight VPN does come with a cost (it’s not free) but it is so cheap – merely around USD 3+ per month (around RM10) that I feel it costs like nothing if you appreciate and fully utilize the service that it offers.

Let me warn you that Moonlight VPN does not improve your internet speed. If you are getting a 4Mbps connection, you will still have the same speed with Moonlight VPN. It does not magically upgrade your original speed – it just bypass the data download / upload limit that was set by your provider.

This was the speed test result that I got with Umobile mobile broadband. I was not in a good reception area and only managed to get a 2Mbps download speed (in good areas I get around 4Mbps average). If you wonder why my upload speed was 0.03Mbps – that’s because during the test, Umobile still counts my data usage and thus I’ve hit the amount of maximum downloads per month and started capping my speed to a puny 100kbps = useless internet.

As far as I’ve heard, Moonlight VPN works with Celcom and Maxis. The rest of I am not sure of, but I am certain at this moment of writing, it does not support Umobile as of yet. Moonlight VPN does not bypass Umobile data usage. Rather pity because as bad as Umobile customer service is, it is still ranked as one of the fastest mobile internet around in the market (based on my own experience and personal tests with other mobile ISPs).